Stripped Deck
by Xekstrin
Summary: A set of playing cards, from which some cards have been removed. Team STRQ centric, always in a pair, never all together. Not ever again.
1. Taiyang and Qrow

"It's a school night," Taiyang reminds him, firmly, and Qrow just rolls his eyes.

"It's Thursday!" he says, throwing his arms wide. Taiyang turns his back on the man, chopping through a row of vegetables and sliding them into the stew for tonight. "She'll miss tomorrow and have a long weekend. Come on, do you really think her scholastic career is gonna be determined by one day of playing hooky with her uncle?"

"I already told her no," Taiyang says. "I have to be consistent with her- and you better not go behind my back and try to play the good cop while I'm the grump who hates fun."

"You are the grump who hates fun." Qrow says it with a good deal of dark humor, his usual carelessness. There are days when Taiyang truly wonders if Qrow intends to hurt people's feelings, or if he just thinks everyone is a calloused, wretched human the way he and his sister are. But in that moment Taiyang doesn't care.

There's a great clattering of dishes and silverware, boiling water splashing onto the kitchen floor and gears whirring as two sets of weapons draw up at once.

He has his forearm pressed against Qrow's throat, and Qrow has the end of his blade piercing through the cloth on Taiyang's back, and there's a moment where Taiyang wonders if how well they know each other will make this a hard fight or an easy one.

Qrow has a lopsided smile. "So you're _really_ grumpy today."

"You gave her up!" Taiyang hisses back, pressing forward and wiping the smirk from Qrow's face. "You gave her up. You gave up the right to decide when and where she goes, how often you get to see her, the conditions that apply to your visits! You gave up the right to be the one to discipline her when she gets out of hand, you gave up the task of teaching her right and wrong and what's acceptable and what's _not_!"

The muscles on his forearm ripple when he cuts off Qrow's air. He knows that if he strikes, Qrow's semblance will just eat it up. And so the trick would be just pressure, pressure, pressure- assuming Qrow doesn't stab him in the back. He sees it when the red eyes began to waver, nostrils flaring wide as Qrow begins to suffocate, and god help him, in that moment there is nothing more Taiyang wants than to see it happen.

He eases up.

"You," he says, hands shaking, not looking away from Qrow. "Should consider yourself lucky I let you in here at all. You're lucky I don't ship her off to another kingdom to study at some other combat school."

Qrow slouches, inhaling hugely before letting it out in a sigh. "Okay. So what, you'd tear her from her friends and family just to spite me?" Standing up a little straighter, he rubs at his neck with one hand and sheathes the greatsword. "Taiyang. Relax. She doesn't have to hang out with me this week."

"She's not your daughter," is all Taiyang says, still trembling from head to toe.

"I know, I know." Qrow lifts up his hands for peace. "I got it. You're obviously on your period or something, so let's clean up in here before the girls see us fighting."

When he passes Taiyang, he gives him a rough punch to the shoulder before grabbing the mop and the broom.


	2. Summer and Raven

Summer strikes all the Grimm down in an instant, a flash of silver power.

Raven is left standing there with her sword drawn, looking and feeling very foolish.

They are the only things that remain upright in that field, the battle so fierce that the trees had been upheaved and their roots dangle towards the sky. Black, viscous pitch seeps into the earth only to dissipate. When the last Grimm corpse fades away, Raven sheathes her sword.

They stare at each other. Silence presses in with every snowflake that idles down.

"Huh," Raven says, taking off her helmet and tucking it under one arm. "Didn't know you could do that."

And that breaks the spell.

Summer dashes across the clearing, her arms outstretched. "Raven!" she shouts, and tackles into her full force.

If it had been anyone else they would have both gone down into the three feet of snow gathering around their ankles, but Raven stands firm. She wraps her arms around Summer, holding her fierce and tight, so tight that she lifts the other woman from her feet. Then Summer begins to shout and scream, beating at Raven's chest with both fists.

" _You_ -!" she shouts, suddenly furious. "You, you, you-! How dare you show your face after abandoning us like that! How could you do that to me! To Taiyang!? You jerk! You- _you_ -!"

"Ugh. Okay. Moment's over." Raven drops her.

Unsteady for a moment, Summer tries to find her footing in the snow again. But once she has her balance she starts berating Raven at the top of her lungs, jabbing her in the center of her breastplate and grabbing her and shaking her and occasionally bursting into tears, sobbing furiously. Raven takes the tongue-lashing with patience, waiting with both eyebrows raised until Summer has vented it all.

Summer stands there, swaying from side to side with exhaustion.

Raven had dropped her helmet in the excitement. She bends down now to pick it up, dusting off the snowflakes that had collected atop it. "Done yet?"

Furious, Summer whips up one leg and kicks Raven swiftly in the shins. "NO!"

She drops the helmet once more, yowling in pain. "Augh! Okay, that's it!" She grabs Summer by the wrist, yanking her closer and snarling down at her. "One more hit and I retaliate, got it?"

"Why did you come back?" Summer shouts back. "Why now?" The sharp anger on her face can't stay for long. She's too gentle-hearted, the Maiden of Spring, to keep forgiveness at bay. Tears well up in her eyes. "Why... why did you leave? Don't tell me you're still trying to become-"

"Rose," Raven says, interrupting her, "Not everyone gets lucky enough to be born into Maidenhood." She releases Summer just to flick her on the nose, retreating a bit backwards so they can both have some breathing room. "God, I forgot how whiny you and Tai could get. Tell me the kid's got a little backbone, at least?"

Summer pauses, not understanding at first. "You mean... Yang?"

"Yang?" Raven's whole face brightens up. "Is that what you named her? Hey, nice. That's kinda cute." She shakes her head, the quills in her hair rattling with the motion. "Very cute."

Their breaths fog up in the night air. Now that the invasive presence of the Grimm is fading away, the area around them begins to return to life. Somewhere a horned owl hoots, low and eerie.

"Raven," Summer says, "Why are you here?"

"I was in the area," she says. "I thought you were in trouble, decided I'd lend a hand this one time. But you took care of it quick." She waves one hand, wiggling her fingers. "Some new Maiden thing?"

Summer doesn't reply.

"Okay, sure, keep your secrets. That's fine by me."

She rolls her shoulders, taking a deep breath. Realizing what she is about to do, Summer rushes forward again, wrapping her arms around the woman's shoulders.

"Don't!" Summer says, holding her tight like that would prevent the feathers from rippling on her body, wings beating through the air as Raven shifts and runs away again. "Don't. Please, Raven, please just stay. Please, don't leave us again! Let us help you!"

Raven pauses mid-transformation, the quills on her back settling down. There's a hunger in her demeanor, desperate and primal. She feels it down to the marrow of her bones, and she is glad Summer can't see her face in that moment. Only after she tames it down does Raven return the embrace. "Oh, Summer," she says, her voice thick with open yearning. She strokes a gloved palm down Summer's back before resting it on the vulnerable nape of her neck. "You're always so ready to save me."

Summer sinks into the touch, pressing her whole body against Raven's. She feels safe, tucked against the wing of a mother bird.

"Whatever you want, you can find it with us." Summer says in between the tears, muffled against Raven's chest.

Raven's grip tightens.

"...Summer," she says. Pulling back just enough so that the words are a warm promise against Summer's lips.

Then her other hand joins the first, squeezing tightly around Summer's throat.

Here, in this godforsaken tract of uncharted Remnant, the rivalry between them sparks again to its full fury.

" _What I want is to wring your fucking neck._ "

The only thing that keeps her from doing it, doing what she dreams of, is that killing Summer to gain her Maiden power would mean Summer wouldn't be around to see Raven finally surpass her.

Raven collapses inward in a burst of black feathers, her magic screaming furiously around them.

Black wings pump loudly against the night air, flying away as quickly as she had arrived.


	3. Qrow and Raven

A large shape buffets into him, and in the next moment Qrow's sister is sitting by his side. The air is thick and humid, so damp you can almost choke on it. He's sweating straight through his clothes and taking a break, sitting atop a grassy knoll in the vain hope that a breeze might hit him. But the winds are still. Summer is giving way to autumn but it's not going down without a fight.

"Give me that," Raven says, stealing his flask from him and taking a sip. She winces, then sighs, and Qrow stares belligerently at her.

"Carry your own!" He snatches it back and drains it so she doesn't get any more. "You little punk."

"It's heavy to carry it in the other shape," she whines, but doesn't press the issue.

Then they're quiet.

It's been five years since they last saw each other, and neither are sure where to start.

"Ozpin's still got you doing his dirty work, I see." Raven opens up with that.

"It's a living." He casts her a sidewise glance. "Not all of us can fuck off to live in the wilds, training under waterfalls or fighting bears or whatever it is you do."

She tightens her lips, trying hard not to smile.

"So what do you need?" Qrow asks. "That's the only reason you ever come see me."

"Money," Raven says simply. Qrow grunts, lifting his hips a bit to reach his wallet. He pulls out every bill and hands it to Raven without another word. "How's the kid?"

Qrow leans towards her. "You mean your kid?"

"The only kid."

"There's two, now."

Raven's eyes widen, her lips parting for a second. Then her face falls flat again, a snarling smile making her expression ugly. "Gross, siblings are the worst. Blondie's got it rough."

"Tell me about it." He's pleasantly buzzed now, but he's dehydrated. He starts patting his chest and then his rucksack, searching for a water skin. "You know, why'd you even carry her if you were just gonna drop her off on Tai's lap?"

"I'd tell you, but you'd get mad at me."

"I'm always mad at you, just answer the question."

Raven toys with the beaded necklaces she wears, the trinkets and feathers and mementos of a life led outside the kingdom walls. She looks half-wild herself, rattling with beads and seashells, grimy and filthy and stinking of old blood. "I thought it would be nice to have an apprentice one day," she says.

Spitting up his water, Qrow starts cackling at the top of his lungs. "...Idiot!"

She punches his shoulder, hard. "Hey, it could still work. Raise her right and maybe one day I'll come back for her."

"If I raise her right, she'll sock you in the jaw before she asks for _your_ help."

"Fair." She stands up, stretching and readying the spell to fly away. "But when she's an adult, she might crave a different power than what you can give her in your safe little walls, Qrow."

He sits back, smiling at her thinly. "That'll be her decision to make. Now piss off."

The wings erupt around them, shrill screaming magic, and two bird fly away in opposite directions.


	4. Summer and Qrow

Qrow was always gentle with her. Their first day together as partners he protected her. When her powers, mysterious and terrifying, began to develop, he comforted her. When she fell in love with him, he tried his best to love her back.

A bird with bloody eyes swoops down on Summer Rose, plucking the earring right out of her grasp. It had fallen out; she was trying to finagle it back into her earlobe. "Hey!" she shouts, raising a fist at the bird. "Give that back! Jerk!"

They're alone in the park, so no one can witness her shouting at a raven. Or the raven laughing uproariously at her attempts to catch him.

The raven swoops down again, but this time he lands on two feet and his wings wrap around Summer in a crushing hug. He's a man again, laughing at her, and she's laughing too because she could never stay mad at him for long.

They are both so lucky, the Branwen siblings. So lucky to find the humans who can't stay mad at them, who understand the lack of malice in a predator's actions.

He kisses her sweetly, smirking when she nips at his lower lip with her teeth.

"You're early for our date, partner," he says, taking pleasure in the way her hair feels between his fingers. He strokes through the length of it, taking pleasure in the sensation, the silky feeling, the trust in her letting him touch her at all. Qrow takes the earring and fastens it back where it belongs, and then kisses her again for good measure.

"So are you," she points out.

He wants to love her, in that moment, even though he can't. Both he and his sister share the same mentality- they can be loyal, _viciously_ so. Taiyang is his sister's man, Taiyang is his man. Summer is his woman and she is Raven's woman- sort of, when they aren't trying to tear each other apart. The women are too similar in all the wrong ways, arrogant and aggressive and ambitious.

 _Mine_ , they think, staring at their partners with hunger that lies beyond a human's ken. It goes far beyond the magpie habits, the dozen rings on his fingers and the quills rattling on his sister's hair and the time Ozpin found them both outside the walls, scouring the dead for trinkets and pulling their boots from blue feet, past the first stages of necrosis. _Mine_.

He'd follow Summer to the end of the earth if she asked him.

But love?

He isn't sure he knows what it means, what it feels like. He's never felt it, or wanted it. He just has people that are his, that he doesn't want to share with anyone else.

He asks Summer if she understands it.

Arms linked together, they stroll through the park like any other pair of lovers. "Your sister said the same thing," she says, sounding rueful. "I'm not going to pretend I understand how your sibling rivalry works-"

"Calling it a rivalry is a little unfair to her, since I'm so obviously winning."

"But I know I like you a lot. I don't know if it's love, but... well, I'm not asking you to marry me, Qrow." She looks up at him. "But I want to stay with you. Just for a little longer. Can we do that?"

"Of course."

He leans down and kisses her, one more time.

Ruby was born a little bit after that, with the hunger for shiny things, eyes gleaming like the edge of a blade, or a silver ring.


	5. Raven and Taiyang

One winter, he finds a she-wolf caught in a trap. She is slavering and mindless with pain and fear, ready to tear off her own limbs to escape. With aura-coated hands he keeps her teeth at bay and loosens the trap. Taiyang is a man who wrangles with beowolves twice his size, often using only his bare fists. A wriggling she-wolf is no problem for him.

He keeps her in the barn for a bit, tending to her until the day he decides she has healed enough, and lets her run away. Not once does he entertain the romantic fantasy of keeping her, a young Androcles and his loyal companion. He'd had his heart broken once by a wild thing. But that was when he was a boy.

He knows better now.

Yet he can't help but think of that she-wolf when he opens the door to his house and finds Raven on the verge of death. A bloody trail leads straight from a shattered window to where she is curled up in his living room, a hand pressed to her side to try and stem the bleeding.

"Help," she says, but there's no pleading tone to her voice. She _demands_ it, teeth grit, eye wild and unsteady. "Help me, for the love of god!"

Taiyang drops everything in his arms. Groceries go spilling across the floor. He runs, skidding to a halt in front of her as he drops to his knees and tears her hands away from the gaping wound. "Why isn't your aura-?"

"No more. Drained it all in a fight and got bit right after!"

This is bad. This is so bad. His hand comes away red and sticky; he presses it to her cheek, forcing her to look up at him. There's no fear in her eyes, only anger, something fiery and all-consuming. Hunger, maybe.

"I'm calling an ambulance, hold on. You hold on, understand me?"

An iron grip locks around his throat; Raven drags him closer. "No hospitals," she says, her voice little more than a rasping wheeze. "Just relax."

Taiyang is confused, terrified that he is about to watch his partner die. Raven was his first girlfriend, the woman who left him, the woman he loves still in spite of all the pain she causes him.

Then he feels loss, an emptiness so cavernous and immense that he can't ever hope to escape it on his own.

Holding Raven's gaze, Taiyang feels her slowly drain his aura away to supplement hers. Their breathing is ragged, alternating his inhale to her exhale. And then they start to breathe as one, the coils of her power wrapping around his soul and pulling him closer than they had ever been before.

A single teardrop slides down his cheek.

He feels in her the immediacy of a wild animal, the madness of an everlasting "now". Nothing further than the next meal, the next hunt, sustenance and consumption and conquest. It beats like the heart of a bird in his bloody palm, and when it's over Raven slumps against him, fast asleep.

When she wakes up the next day, she is scarred terribly from the fight. Taiyang tears her clothes off and blackmails her until she takes a shower. When she is freshly scrubbed and clean she finds him hunched over the kitchen table, his head in his hands.

"Thanks," she says. Her palm is still damp when she smooths it over his wild blond hair; he looks up at her with a guarded expression. "You're a good man, Taiyang." She caresses his cheek. "You're _my_ man. Always."

"Put some pants on," he grumbles, glancing away.

She finds some of Summer's clothes. Holds them to her chest and inhales deeply before putting them on. "Where are the others?"

"Summer is in Atlas training with some of their elite," Taiyang says, his fingers tapping out an anxious rhythm on the table. "Qrow is in some desert trading post, lost in Vacuo last I heard."

Raven leans over, takes his chin to plant a kiss on his lips. She does it with no hesitation or question, taking him the way she takes everything. "Good. Tell them I miss them, when they return."

He wrenches his face away. "I'm not telling them a damn thing. You want to send a message, do it yourself!" He gets up from his chair to glare at her, shocked, as always, how she meets him head-on. He's so used to Summer and Qrow looking up at him; Raven's exactly his height.

But in the end, his anger simmers down from the sheer futility of it. You might as well hold a grudge against a hurricane as hold one against Raven Branwen. "You can stay for just a little bit," he says, looking away from her. "Just until you feel better. But you have to leave."

She puts a hand on his face, fondly scraping the stubble there. And then her palm trails down the center of his chest, popping open every button on its path. Raven undresses him casually, grabbing him by the belt buckle and yanking him closer until they are chest to chest.

"So I'll stay the night," she promises him, full of wicked pleasure at the idea. "Just as a thank-you for helping me out today."

Both hands work apart his belt and fly, her teeth scraping out a path down the twitching, sculpted grooves of his abdominal muscles. He thinks of his hands, not even twenty hours previously, soaked in her blood. He sees the scars criss-crossing her body, the punishment for not letting nature take its course and heal through time. He has no such scars; she comments on his perfection, as always, the satin softness of his skin as she takes him in her mouth.

Later, she kisses his brow as he lies in bed, sore and aching and drenched in sweat and sex.

"You're my man, Taiyang," she promises him, kissing him again, and again.

And then she leaves.


	6. Summer and Taiyang

"I'll see you when I get back, baby," Summer says. She gives her husband a kiss on the cheek. Taiyang holds Ruby on his hip with one hand and her little paw in the other, Yang clutching onto one of his legs. He has her wave goodbye at Summer.

She leaves through the front doors for the very last time.


End file.
